Man With Largest Carbon Footprint In World To Go After Methane

Obama has a “carbon footprint” estimated, conservatively, to be 41,000 metric tons. That’s the equivalent of the footprint of 2200 Americans. Of course, that was in 2009, when he hadn’t sent his wife, kids, and dogs on separate flights on their way to vacations. This is a man who will take a fossil fueled flight across the country to give a 30 minute or less speech, before heading off to a fundraiser, of course. And now he wants to go after methane, which, surprise, is a major component of natural gas production

(Reuters) The White House said on Friday it will take a hard look at whether new regulations are needed to cut emissions of methane from the oil and gas industry, part of President Barack Obama’s plan to address climate change.

The suggestion drew a sharp rebuke from the main oil and gas lobby group. The American Petroleum Institute said its members were already taking steps that will cut emissions and expressed concern that more regulations could put a damper on natural gas drilling by raising costs.

A sector of the American economy that’s moving, so, yup, regulation.

But environmental groups said regulations are needed to make sure all players take action to reduce methane emissions. The greenhouse gas is 84 times more effective than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the first 20 years after being released, according to the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

The actual number is not truly known. The IPCC says 84 times, you can find all different numbers. The UPI serendipitously ran an article yesterday stating that it was 30 times more potent. I can find the numbers 10, 21, 37, 49, and 86, among others. Now, in reality, there is, and should be a concern with methane. It is a much more potent greenhouse gas than CO2, though it doesn’t last as long in the atmosphere. And it doesn’t seem to have the same effect where continued higher concentrations really make little difference, like with CO2. At one point, even the IPCC determined that methane was the real danger, not CO2, particularly from agriculture and landfills. But, methane is not as sexy as CO2, and brings on lots of fart jokes. And do Warmists want to call for a decrease in food production? Some of the more wackier ones, yes, but mostly they ignore that.

Personally, I will not say that methane isn’t a danger. When I write that man shares a small portion of blame for global warming, methane is primarily what I’m thinking about. Should we be uber concerned? No. But, we should have some concern. There can be some wise, basic regulation.

The White House said regulators will propose new rules later this year to reduce venting and flaring from oil and gas wells on public lands, one way to begin cutting emissions of methane.

However, most oil and gas production takes place on privately owned land. So the Environmental Protection Agency is going to study this year whether additional, broader regulations are needed for methane emissions under the Clean Air Act, said Dan Utech, Obama’s top energy and climate aide.

Does anyone think that these regulations will be anything but overly burdensome, controlling, and damaging to the natural gas industry, as well as others? Regulations that will cause businesses to fold and prices to artificially rise?

Methane is the main component of natural gas. It is also released by dairy farms, landfills and coal mines.

The EPA will propose additional regulations for methane produced by new landfills in coming months, and will consider updating rules for existing landfills, the White House said.

The government will also work with the dairy industry on voluntary measures to cut emissions from their barns, the White House said.

But the biggest part of its strategy looks at how to stop leaks of methane from natural gas wells and pipelines, which the White House said was responsible for 28 percent of U.S. methane emissions in 2012.

“Voluntary”. The cost of milk, already skyrocketing, will go up more. Landfill regulations will increase the price of city services regarding trash pickup and trash disposal, raising consumer prices. The biggest is that the hardcore Progressives want to shut the coal and natural gas industries down.